Large or small, furniture retailers are closing their stores in Central Ohio.

Independent merchants such as Global Living LLC and Copenhagen Scandinavian Furniture of Columbus LLC and national chains such as Bombay Co. have called it quits in the past two months.

The biggest blow came Dec. 4, when Groveport-based Sofa Express Inc. confirmed it will shutter at least 14 Ohio stores, including eight in the Columbus area. The company also will close its headquarters.

It is speculated the chain is closing all of its more than 40 stores, but executives did not return calls seeking comment.

When the dust settles on the shakeout, Central Ohio will have 12 fewer sources of sofas and settees than it had in October.

"In many areas there are too many retailers chasing too few consumers," said Russell Bienenstock, editor of Furniture World.

Some of the problems for furniture merchants are the same ones facing other industries, including a struggling housing market and rising fuel prices.

Because most furniture is imported, shipping costs have gone up, pushing struggling companies over the edge, he said.

Smith Leonard PLLC, a High Point, N.C.-based consulting firm, said in a report that furniture orders were down 4 percent through the third quarter from a year earlier, and nearly seven in 10 companies responding to its questionnaires saw a drop in purchase orders. Shipments were down 6 percent during the same period.

Sofa Express is the biggest Central Ohio casualty.

It has a nearly 50-year history in the area, but according to documents filed with the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services, that is coming to an end.

When the company closes the 14 Ohio stores, including all of its Columbus-area ones, and its South Hamilton Road headquarters and warehouse, it will put 436 people out of work.

Sofa Express said in its filings with the state that it was closing the home office and stores "due to its financial situation."

The closings are expected to occur over the next few months.

The trade publication Furniture Today reported all of the company's more than 40 stores are expected to close.

Repeated calls to Sofa Express CEO Woolard Harris and to parent Klaussner Furniture Industries Inc. were not returned. The company's Web site is not working, with a message that it is under construction.

The company runs stores in Ohio, Florida, the Carolinas and Tennessee and had sales of $206 million in 2006, according to Furniture Today.

Columbus businessman Towny Quinn founded the business that became Sofa Express in 1959. It was sold in 2002 to Klaussner, a furniture maker from Asheboro, N.C.

Industry troubles have been indiscriminate of retailers' selection and store count.

High-end retailer Global Living defaulted on a $1.3 million loan and its lender, FirstMerit Bank of Akron, took over its inventory in October after winning a court judgment.

Global Living moved to 855 Grandview Ave. almost three years ago and experienced a string of financial problems, including the Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation of one of its two owners and a 2006 lawsuit between the principals.

Copenhagen Scandinavian Furniture, another independent, closed in early October. Owner Kim Kristensen, according to an Oct. 8 letter to customers, has been in Denmark "for some time," resolving logistical problems with shippers and working on a new partnership, including a name change.

Company executives could not be reached for an update.

Fort Worth, Texas-based Bombay in October disclosed the closing of its 335 U.S. stores, including shops at Easton Town Center and Polaris Fashion Place.

More closings could be on the way. Plano, Texas-based Rent-A-Center Inc., which sells furniture and electronics, said Dec. 3 it plans to close and consolidate 280 of its stores in the next three months.

Spokesman Gus Whitcomb said the list of stores to be closed had not been released. Shutdowns will come in 40 states, he said, but no major city will lose all of its stores.

Central Ohio has 16 Rent-A-Centers.

The closings do not leave a dearth of furniture retailers. Bienenstock said though the struggling businesses outnumber the healthy ones, there are successes.

He said Sweden-based Inter Ikea Systems BV continues to expand - its first Ohio store is headed for the Cincinnati suburb of West Chester - and niche retailers are doing OK. Bedding retailers remain successful, too.

More competitors have come to the Columbus market in recent years.

Atlanta-based Haverty Furniture Co. opened a store at Polaris in 2005, while Quinn and Ken Paul, former Sofa Express president, started FrontRoom Furnishings LLC, which now has three showrooms. Independent stores such as Eurolife Furniture have been unafraid to open as well.

Meanwhile, other retailers, such as Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., through its six area Kroger Marketplace stores, and Columbus-based Big Lots Inc. have added or expanded furniture selections at some stores.

614-220-5462 | deaton@bizjournals.com

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